USD Men's Basketball 2003-2004 West Coast Conference

TORERO OUTLOOK

USDTOREROS LOOK TO CONTINUE WINNING WAYS IN 2003-04 HEAD COACH BRAD HOLLAND:

Head coach Brad Holland enters his 10th year at the helm of the Torero men's basketball program and his 2003-04 lineup will have quite a different look from the team that won last year's West Coast Conference Basketball Championship and advanced to the NCAA fM._..,.k Tournament. Gone from last year's 18-12 club are four senior start– ers that accounted for 73.4% of the team's scoring punch - center Jason Keep (18.0 ppg), forward Jason Blair (17.1 ppg), guard Roy Morris (12.3 ppg) and team captain and point guard Matt Delzell (8.0 ppg). Despite the loss of four starters, Holland has consis– tently proven over the past decade that he can mold his club into a cohesive group that plays well together as a team, and that will be ,......... 1 competitive game in and game out. THE RETURNING CLASS:

USD's lone returning starter is junior wing Corey Belser who was named the team's Best Defensive Player this past year. Look for the athletic Belser, who averaged 4.1 ppg and 4.5 rpg, to be asked to increase hi s offensive output, something he was not expected to do this past year. Two other returners that were in the team's eight-man rotation include junior guard Mike McGrain and sophomore forward/center Nick Lewis. McGrain was the team's first guard off the bench this past season and is projected as the team's starting point guard. Lewis, who

gave the Toreros instant offense off the bench and was named the team's Most Improved Player after averaging 8.6 ppg, will play a key role again in USD's plans at both ends of the floor. Other re– turners back that will be counted on to produce include senior for– ward-center Abdou Sane, senior shooting guard Brad Lechtenberg and sophomore guard Travis Smith. The Toreros will also have the luxury of getting the services ofjunior shooting guard Brett Melton. Melton, a transfer from the University of Illinois who sat out last season, should give the Toreros one of the league's most dangerous three-point threats. He'll be counted on to supply a lot of offense that USD will be missing from the loss of their four seniors. THE NEWCOMERS: The Torero coaching staff, which has concentrated on getting more athletic through their recruiting efforts, have a trio of incoming recruits who will be expected to contribute immediately - junior foward Brandon Gay (Missouri City, TX), junior forward/center Brice Vounang (Dschang, Cameroon) and freshman guard Michael Hubbard (Los Angeles, CA). Gay, a 6-8 forward from Seward County CC in Kansas, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Jayhawk West Conference after averaging 14.9 ppg and 8.4 rpg; Vounang averaged 18.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg at Eastern usdtoreros.com